Carried By Vision: How knowing where you’re going helps you endure the slow and hard days

Two weeks ago, I wrote about the stretches of the Rocky Mountain Express, built in the 1880s, where workers could lay only five feet of track in a day. Five feet—after hours of backbreaking labor. Progress so small it must have felt invisible.

Last week I wrote about the twenty years of preparation that happened before a single rail was ever laid—twenty years of surveying, studying terrain, and figuring out what would hold—and what wouldn’t.

Those two details stayed with me long after the movie ended—still with me as my husband and I put on our coats, briefly silenced by the awe we felt as the story unfolded on the screen.

And then: “Can you imagine?”

“Twenty years of preparation… only five feet on some days?”

The question lingered between us as we walked back out into the cold, pulling our coats tightly around us, ready to head out for dinner.

But since then, another question has been circling in my mind:

How did they keep going?

How did they stay motivated through decades of preparation?

How did they show up on days when five feet was all they could manage?

What kept them from quitting when the work was slow, hard, and often unseen?

I kept turning it over in my mind. Preparation that long. Progress that slow. Work that hard. Something had to be holding them steady — something stronger than motivation alone.

Vision.

They weren’t just laying track. They were connecting a country. They had a clear picture of where they were headed and why it mattered. And because of that vision, the slow days made sense. The long years made sense. The obstacles, the setbacks, the grueling pace—they all had a purpose.

Without that vision, five feet a day would have felt pointless.

But with it, five feet a day became progress.

Scripture says it this way:

“Where there is no vision, the people perish.” — Proverbs 29:18 (KJV)

In other words, without a clear sense of direction and purpose, we lose heart. We drift. We give up. But when we know where we’re going, something changes.

Vision gives us courage on hard days.

Vision helps us endure long preparation.

Vision reminds us why we started in the first place.

I’ve been thinking about this in my own life.

Right now I’m in the middle of a big, slow creative project—one that requires patience, persistence, and a lot of ordinary, unglamorous work. Some days it’s me at my desk early in the morning, the dark of night still beyond my window, coffee beside me, rereading pages that don’t yet look the way I want them to. Pages I’ve already read too many times—my eyes glazing over at the repetition.

What keeps me going isn’t speed. It’s vision.

I remember why I’m doing it… what I hope it will become… the purpose that called me to begin.

The same is true for so many areas of life:

A marriage being rebuilt.

A business being grown.

A health goal being pursued.

Emotional pain healing.

A dream being shaped quietly over time.

Slow progress becomes bearable when we stay connected to the “why.”

So maybe the question for each of us this week is simple:

What vision is carrying you right now?

Not the to-do list.

Not the daily grind.

Not the days it feels impossible.

And not the self-talk that says, Give up.

But the deeper reason underneath it all—the reason that helps you keep going.

If you’ve been discouraged by how long something is taking, pause for a moment. Breathe. Lift your eyes—literally, if you can—and remember where you’re headed.

When you’re building something that matters, five feet a day gets you there.

The slow progress feels different—better—when you know where you’re going.

And why.